An Illawarra and NSW representative throughout his formative years, Cooks has spent the past six months refining his game at Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence in Canberra.

On Monday the 205cm forward will fly to America to take up a four-year scholarship with the University of Winthrop, a Division 1 college in the Big South Conference.

Turning 19 later this month, he is looking forward to the next phase of his life.

"Going to college to play basketball has been a goal of mine all my life," Cooks said.

"They [Centre of Excellence] really helped me get to that next stage, so it's been great."

Cooks is the son of Wollongong Hawks assistant coach Eric Cooks.

Xavier's brother Dominique was a rookie guard with the Hawks last season and is trialling for a spot on the club's 2014-15 roster after his debut campaign was cut short by injury.

Dom returned to Australia last year after a stint at the University of Chaminade in Hawaii.

Little brother has received a few words of advice from big brother on how to avoid missing Australia.

"He said the main thing was homesickness and how you deal with that," the former Holy Spirit College student said.

"It helps to keep in contact with people in Australia as much as you can, and he said to look at it like nine months at a time. Every May I come back and I go back over there every August.

"It'll be difficult going back to school and managing the schoolwork with the basketball, but it should be interesting."

Cooks has shared the same court as Australian junior rep Dante Exum, who was selected as the fifth pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

"I played against him in the under 18s and 20s nationals, and dad knows [Exum's father] Cecil so I kind of got to know him through that," Cooks said.

"Him being picked in the draft shows the sky's the limit. He was at the 18s nationals two years ago and he was just another talented Australian player. Two years later he's getting drafted into the best league in the world.

"It's definitely a big lifestyle change, coming from Australia where basketball's not that big and going to America where sports is huge. He has lots of fans and gets lots of publicity over there compared to Australia, so he's still getting used to that."

Cooks would love to join Exum in the NBA.

"That would be great, but it'd still be a dream to come back here and play for the Hawks," he said. "I want to take that step and grow as a player, and use that step to get to the next one."

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The Wollongong Hawks open their pre-season campaign with Sunday’s duel with the University of Eastern Kentucky Colonels at the Snakepit.

Wollongong are expected to field a line-up including Oscar Forman, Dave Gruber, Adam Ballinger, Tim Coenraad, Larry Davidson, Tyson Demos and Dom Cooks.

New Hawks signings Brad Hill and Gary Ervin are not available to play.

‘‘We’ve been training for a while now and you always look forward to that first trial game to see how you’re progressing,’’ Forman said.

‘‘College guys are young and fit, and they like proving they can match it with professional teams.

‘‘I’m sure their coaches will be looking to fine-tune some things with really tough matches before they start their new season.

‘‘It’s a good opportunity for us to develop stuff we’ve been working on in a game situation.’’

Eastern Kentucky are the reigning Ohio Valley Conference champs.

They played the Kings on Friday night and take on Cairns next week. Tip-off on Sunday is at 4pm.